Somali Divine Mountains: Huis van Vertrouwen

Sada Mire was the first woman from Somalia to study archeology. Globally she is considered one of the 'Most Inspiring Women in Science of All Times'. Her archeological studies in Sweden, Europe was mainly Western-centric, focusing on objects and material artifacts. To study the oral cultures and sacred landscapes and trees in Somalia and Somaliland, she needed to develop her own methodological framework ("Ritual Set"). Her research has had tremendous impact on the discovery of ancient art in the Horn of Africa and, more importantly, her work has been liberating, emancipating women, people from African descent whose rich cultural history is too often forgotten or ignored, academics in general, all of us.

After reading her book Divine Fertility based on 10 years of research I painted an image of Sada Mire pointing towards a remarkable piece of rock art at Laas Geel Somaliland. I titled my painting Strong Women Shifting Power. Sada Mire Decolonizing Archeology. It was exhibited in 2022 in Pluriversal Worlds in a Grain of Sand in Ghent, Belgium and published in the catalogue of the exhibition. 

In 2024 I overpainted the 'rock art painting', first with bright colors, followed by a mountainous landscape, symbolically 'protecting the ancient art'. Traces from the rock art painting remain visible in the new painting now called Somali Divine Mountains, which I dedicate to Sada Mire.